Hi - a doc at MD Anderson said approval will be soon (not sure how soon). There was a Phase 3 trial for metastatic gastric cancer, so I don't think they have to wait for the other trials to end. Happy New Year to you too.

There are a bunch of clinical trials going on - if you google cancer clinical trials it will get you to a page where you can run a search for them.
There is also a new drug the FDA should approve soon - Ramucirumab.
And I don't know which chemos she has tried, but there are existing approved second and third line therapies. To find their names, google the NCCN guidelines for gastric cancer. You need to create a ...

I have stage 4 stomach cancer too (diagnosed 2 years ago), and have had many delays of treatment. Although I'd ask your doc, I'd say that waiting a week for treatment is not a big deal -- especially so she can feel better at the wedding! My onc has lectured me that, as a Stage 4 person, I need to consider quality of life issues. Stage 4 is like a marathon, not a sprint -- you've got to pace yourself...

I had a problem with coughing after Ivor-Lewis. Mine was caused by acid reflux, which this surgery usually makes much worse. Many of us need to sleep with our head significantly elevated and take reflux meds to get the coughing and reflux under control.

Suzyrule -- I'm sorry that you and John have to go through this. Mine was not laprascopic. From what I can tell different people get different incissions in different place; it depends a lot on what they decide to do.
I can't say that it is easy to do, but people typically do recover pretty well -- you just have to have patience (easier said than done!)
For me, they did pull the ribs apart...

Your son's surgery sounds like mine. I had 2 primary incisions and a bunch of drains. They took out most of my esophagus through an incision that runs from under my arm to almost mid back (the other one was in my front, for the stomach part). I still have some pain from the back incision, but it is much better now - I don't notice it very often (usually if I swim or use weights, or something like that).

The NCCN guidelines now recommend Herceptin with certain chemos for HER2+ patients with metastatic or locally advanced EC. I wonder why more oncs don't test for HER2 and use Herceptin,, given that it is the standard of care in those situations.